1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a multifunctional machine, and particularly to a multifunctional machine which prevents the contamination caused by the contact of a document and a printhead by placing the printhead to face a base frame supporting a printable medium and placing a scanner to face the base frame supporting the document.
Further, the present invention relates to a multifunctional machine capable of simplifying structure and reducing manufacturing costs by sharing the base frame for supporting the printable medium and the document, and by moving the printhead and the scanner using one driving motor.
2. Description of the Related Art
First, a printable medium, which is referred to in the specification, indicates a medium capable of recording a predetermined information such as a printing paper.
Nowadays, office automation facilities such as a printer, a scanner, a duplicator, a facsimile, etc. have become widespread. To extend their own functions, these office automation facilities each having high efficiency have been developed. Accordingly, the manufacturing costs of the products increase and this may impose an economic burden on users. To solve the problem, by integrating the office automation facilities which have separately been used into a multifunctional device, the economic burden on users can be lessened.
Conventionally, the multifunctional machine includes a document scanning unit and a printing unit which separately perform the scanning and printing operations.
The multifunctional machine has a common path for transporting both the document and the printable medium, and an image scanning sensor which is integrated at a high density is separately mounted at a printhead carriage housing. When scanning the document, an ink-jet printhead and the image scanning sensor perform reciprocation on the document in a direction perpendicular to the document transporting direction by means of a carriage motor along a carriage shaft. At this time, the image scanning sensor scans data from the document. After the scanning is completed once, the document is transported by as much as a predetermined length by a document transporting motor. By repeatedly performing the above-described process, the document scanning is completed.
In the case of the multifunctional machine in which the image scanning sensor is attached to the printhead carriage housing, as the ink-jet printhead and the image scanning sensor move together, the surface of the document is always contacted with an ink injection unit of the printhead. As a result, when performing the scanning operation, as the ink is spread on the surface of the document due to the contact of the ink injection unit of the printhead and the surface of the document, the image on the document can be damaged.
In the case where the interval between the printhead and the printable medium is larger than the interval between the image scanning sensor and the document, the ink injected on the printable medium, which is not yet dry, is contacted by the surface of the image scanning sensor, thereby causing a poor image quality
Moreover, when picking up the document, as the surface of the document is contaminated by a pickup roller caused by the friction between the surface of the document and the pickup roller, the data on the document can be damaged.
To solve the above problems, a multifunctional machine which has two different paths for transporting the document and the printable medium, and which drives the printhead and the image scanning sensor by means of different driving sources, has been presented. However, as the separate driving sources are used to drive the printhead and the image scanning sensor, and also to transport the printable medium and the document, the manufacturing cost increases and the space required for setting up the machine becomes large.
Therefore, it is an object of the present invention to provide a multifunctional machine which prevents the image on the document from being damaged by a pickup roller and a printhead when scanning, and which prevents deterioration of the printed image by an image scanning sensor when printing, the printhead and the image scanning sensor being perpendicular to the document or the transporting direction and simultaneously separated from each other by as much as a predetermined distance respectively perpendicular to the reciprocating direction.
It is another object of the present invention to provide a multifunctional machine in which the printhead and the image scanning sensor are perpendicular to the document or the transporting direction and simultaneously separated from each other by as much as a predetermined distance respectively perpendicular to the reciprocating direction, which reduces the manufacturing costs by simplifying the structure, and which reduces the volume of the product, by driving the printhead and the image scanning sensor by means of one driving unit and transporting the document and printable medium by means of one transporting motor.
According to one aspect of the present invention, a scanning unit scans the document by reciprocating perpendicular to the document transporting direction; a printing unit prints on the printable medium by reciprocating perpendicular to the printable medium transporting direction; and the printing unit and the scanning unit are separated from each other by as much as a predetermined distance respectively perpendicular to the reciprocating direction.
In one preferred embodiment, the printing unit and the scanning unit are respectively opposite to each other, and a path for transporting the document and the printable medium is formed therebetween.
In another preferred embodiment, the printing unit and the scanning unit are formed to be in the same direction, and the paths for transporting the document and the printable medium are respectively oppositely formed on the scanning unit and the printing unit.
Preferably, the printing unit and the scanning unit are simultaneously driven by one driving source. A scanning unit scans the document on the base frame by reciprocating perpendicular to the document transporting direction; and a printing unit is located opposite to the scanning unit centering around the base frame and prints on the printable medium on the base frame by reciprocating perpendicular to the printable medium transporting direction.
According to the present invention, the printing unit and the scanning unit are simultaneously driven by one driving source and receive a driving force from the driving source through a belt.
Preferably, on the base frame, a slot having a length corresponding to the width where the scanning unit performs reciprocation is formed. A protection plate of transparent material is preferably inserted into the slot.
According to the present invention, a first guide shaft for guiding the reciprocation of the scanning unit is provided to equally maintain the interval between the scanning unit and the document and between the printing unit and the printable medium; and a second guide shaft for guiding the reciprocation of the printing unit and located parallel to the first guide shaft is provided.
Moreover, the scanning unit and the printing unit reciprocate in a same direction, and they are separated from each other by as much as a predetermined distance perpendicular to the transporting direction. Alternatively, the scanning unit and the printing unit reciprocate in opposite directions, and they are separated from each other by as much as the width where the reciprocation is performed.
The scanning unit and the printing unit can be driven by separate driving sources. At this time, the moving speeds of the scanning unit and the printing unit can be the same or different.
According to another aspect of the present invention, paths for transporting the document and the printable medium are different. A first base frame located at the path for transporting the printable medium supports the printable medium, and a second base frame located at the path for transporting the document supports the document. The printing unit is located at the upper part of the first base frame and performs the printing operation on the printable medium by reciprocation on the printable medium, and the scanning unit is located at the upper part of the second base frame and scans the document by reciprocation perpendicular to the document transporting direction. Here, the scanning unit and the printing units are separately or simultaneously driven by means of a same driving source.
Preferably, the scanning unit and the printing unit receive the driving force from the driving source through a belt.
According to the present invention, a power unit for transporting is further included for providing power to transport the document and the printable medium separately or simultaneously. Preferably, the power unit for transporting includes a transporting motor; a decelerating gear for decelerating the driving force generated by the transporting motor; driving units for transporting the document and the printable medium which transmits the decelerated driving force to a document transporting roller and a printable medium transporting roller, respectively; and power switching devices for transporting the document and the printable medium which control the delivery of the driving force to the document transporting roller and the printable medium transporting roller in accordance with the control of the driving units for transporting the document and the printable medium.
According to another aspect of the present invention, the first base frame supports the printable medium and the second base frame supports the document. The printing unit is located to face the first base frame and prints data on the printable medium by performing reciprocation on the printable medium, and the scanning unit is located to face the second base frame and scans the document by performing reciprocation on the document perpendicular to the document transporting direction. The driving force generated by a driving force generating unit transmits the driving force to the printing unit and the scanning unit through first and second driving force transmitting units. The driving force generating unit is connected to one of the first and second driving force transmitting units, and drives the printing unit and the scanning units separately or simultaneously.
Preferably, the first driving force transmitting unit includes a driving pulley connected to the driving force generating unit and a first driven pulley connected to the driving pulley by means of a first belt to which the printing unit is connected. Moreover, the second driving force transmitting unit includes a second driven pulley connected to the driving pulley by means of a second belt and a third driven pulley connected to the second driven pulley by means of a third belt to which the scanning unit is connected.
Preferably, the driving force generating unit includes a stepping motor.
Selectively, the first base frame and the second base frame can be shared as a common base frame, and it is possible to form a common path for transporting the document and the printable medium. In that case, the printing unit can be located at the upper part of the common base frame, and the scanning unit can be located at the lower part of the common base frame, facing each other.